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Southampton manager Ronald Koeman hit out on the Premier League s upcoming Christmas fixture list, labelling it as crazy .

Koeman s Southampton are flying high in the Premier League, exceeding expectations to sit second in the standings ahead of Monday s trip to Aston Villa.

Southampton have defied the odds after losing a host of players and staff during the off-season, including captain Adam Lallana and manager Mauricio Pochettino, winning eight of their 11 league fixtures so far.

The south coast club are preparing to embark on a difficult festive period that brought them unstuck in 2013-14 after they won just one of nine Premier League games.

Southampton will face Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal in the space of a week heading into the New Year.

…

Sinisa Mihajlovic has been sacked by Torino after Wednesday s Coppa Italia loss to rivals Juventus compounded a poor run of league form.

Torino had won just one of their last eight Serie A matches, leaving them 10th in the table, before succumbing 2-0 to Juve.

Former Fiorentina, Sampdoria and AC Milan coach Mihajlovic took charge in May 2016 and led Torino to a ninth-place finish last season.

But the former Lazio star was been shown the door on Thursday.

The Torino Football Club announces that it has relieved Sinisa Mihajlovic from the position of coach of the first team, a statement on the Torino website read.

Sinisa and his staff are thanked for the commitment and the passion shown in these 18 months in maroon.

Torino host Bologna…

West Ham midfielder Alou Diarra has expressed his desire to leave Boleyn Ground in the January transfer window.

Diarra, 31, joined West Ham in a €3.5 million deal from Marseille last summer, but a thigh injury saw him miss the start of the season.

The player returned into action in December, but failed to break into the starting line-up, and is now ready to leave the Hammers in search of regular playing time.

Yes, I want to go. It s breaking point. Today, I want a real challenge and I will not get it at West Ham, Diarra .

With the current coach (Sam Allardyce), it is impossible. There s no dialogue, no explanation. I have to go.

Some clubs have approached West Ham and I m not afraid to leave. It will always be better than here. At West Ham, …

that AC Milan are stepping up their efforts to sign Cruzeiro winger Everton Ribeiro.

The Rossoneri are in desperate need of attacking reinforcements and they are currently in advanced talks for the player who helped the Brazilian giants win the league title.

After having an €8 million bid rejected, Milan have raised their offer to €10 million, and Cruzeiro appear satisfied with the latest proposal.

The only problem is that Al Ahli are also in the mix and they aim to hijack the bid for the 25-year-old footballer.

Everton Ribeiro developed into one of league s biggest stars shortly after joining Cruzeiro from Coritiba in January 2013, and he has since managed 13 goals and 24 assists in 76 league outings.

The talented footballer, who has three …

Australia sealed a perfect passage through to the 2022 World Cup third qualifying round thanks to Harry Souttar s header in Wednesday s 1-0 win over Jordan in Kuwait.

The Socceroos were already guaranteed top spot in Group B and made it eight wins from eight in qualifying for the first time ever with their three points at the Jaber Al-Ahmad International Stadium.

Souttar s goal – the Stoke City defender s sixth in five internationals – ended Jordan s hopes of qualifying and that frustration told as Mousa Suleiman was shown a late red card.

Jordan had lost only one of their previous seven internationals but struggled to create any meaningful opportunities, which was also true of their opponents for large parts.

. nods home a historic winner

The…

Real Madrid can extend their lead at the top of La Liga to four points when they host Sevilla on Wednesday.

With a slender one-point lead at La Liga s summit, Real Madrid can put some daylight between themselves and the chasing pack when Sevilla visit the Santiago Bernabeu.

This fixture had to be postponed earlier in the season, due to Real s involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup, but Wednesday s meeting gives Carlo Ancelotti s men the opportunity to cement their place at the top of the table.

Real come into the game in high spirits, having beaten Real Sociedad 4-1 at home at the weekend to record a fourth consecutive league success.

Ancelotti hailed the performance of Karim Benzema after the Frenchman netted twice on Saturday and the coach will hope …

Brazil, Russia, Paraguay and Italy have qualified for the second round at the 2008 Futsal World Cup, which is currently being held in Brazil.

The Brazilians easily defeated Cuba 9-0 in their last First Round game, and top group A with twelve points from four matches and a staggering 49-1 goal record.

Russia were much too strong for Japan (9-1), with which they successfully defended their second place in this group.

A bigger surprise occurred in Group B, where Paraguay beat Italy 4-2 in their last game to finish the group in first position. The Italians end in second place.

Italy had been leading in two occasions, but the Paraguayans turned things around to take the victory.

The other two groups will be decided on Thursday, after which the second …

Real Madrid on Tuesday confirmed the signing of Serbia striker Luka Jovic from Eintracht Frankfurt for a fee reported to be €60million.

Jovic became one of Europe s most in-demand players after scoring 17 Bundesliga goals and a further 10 in Eintracht s run to the semi-finals of the Europa League in 2018-19.

The Bundesliga club have made a massive profit on the 21-year-old as they only trigged a purchase option in his loan deal from Benfica for a reported €6m in April.

He certainly comes highly recommended by those who know him best.

Milos Ninkovic  Jovic s former team-mate at Red Star Belgrade

He is such a nice guy. [At] 16 years old, to play for such a big club in Serbia is unbelievable, Ninkovic, who now plays for A-League …

Philippe Coutinho says he is unsure where he will be playing next season as speculation continues to mount over his Barcelona future.

The Brazil international had an underwhelming first full campaign at Camp Nou, contributing five LaLiga goals and two assists.

Coutinho acknowledged earlier this week he needs to improve to justify his hefty price tag, with Barcelona paying a fee that could rise to £142million to sign him from Liverpool in January 2018.

Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain are rumoured to be interested in the 27-year-old, but he is keeping his attention on helping Brazil to Copa America glory on home soil.

I do not know. The future, nobody knows, Coutinho told reporters when asked if he will leave Barcelona.

I am focused to…

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Happy New Year one and all! It s safe to say that 2019 has been one hell of a year for us all, and in the world of football, 2020 looks set to be even crazier with everything from the Summer Olympics to UEFA Euro 2020 and beyond. Before all that, though, there s still a whole half of the season to go in the domestic leagues all across the land including in the Premier League. Today, we ll be looking at a pretty intriguing game up in the North East as Newcastle United host high-flying Leicester City.

Newcastle

From their aerial presence to their strong structure, Newcastle United have been much better than anyone was really expecting them to be over the course of the last few months. Steve Bruce has turned a neg…